Interviewer: Emma Ciechanowski
Interview Date: February 15, 2023
Location: Interview conducted over Zoom
Duration: 1:04:01
In this interview, SueAnn Bottoms begins by describing her childhood in rural Maine, her undergraduate experience at Western Washington University, and her difficulties deciding what to study in college. She then discusses her job in the U.S. Forest Service before describing her return to school to receive a B.S. in Biology at Eastern Oregon University. In this, she explains that she transferred over credits from Western Washington University and was motivated to receive a degree in Biology so that she could advance in her career at the Forest Service.
Bottoms then reflects on her move from the Forest Service to teaching. She discusses how being invited into classrooms sparked her interest in working with teachers, how she obtained her teaching certification to be better equipped to interact with teachers, and how she wound up leaving the Forest Service to become a science teacher. She also recalls what it was like teaching at small rural schools where she was the only science teacher.
Much of the interview focuses on Bottoms’ time at OSU. She first talks about her job working for the SMILE program and what it was like being employed full-time while also working towards a PhD. She then talks about her time walking half marathons. She explains that she first started casually walking when she turned sixty, but that it soon became an obsession. She continued walking multiple half marathons every year until the fall of 2019. Bottoms then returns to talking about her time at OSU. She discusses her move to the College of Education, where she was quickly made the department chair because she had a PhD, although people doubted her legitimacy because she was new. She then talks about the hierarchy of higher education and her transition to an assistant professor position. Finally, she discusses how she did not receive tenure at OSU.
The interview concludes with Bottoms reflecting on sexism and racism in the university’s structure. In this, she points outs that, while OSU has a female president, most of the other people in power are white men, and the structure of the university makes it difficult for women to push back against the system. Bottoms emphasizes that this makes it difficult for women to receive high-level positions.
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Bottoms then reflects on her move from the Forest Service to teaching. She discusses how being invited into classrooms sparked her interest in working with teachers, how she obtained her teaching certification to be better equipped to interact with teachers, and how she wound up leaving the Forest Service to become a science teacher. She also recalls what it was like teaching at small rural schools where she was the only science teacher.
Much of the interview focuses on Bottoms’ time at OSU. She first talks about her job working for the SMILE program and what it was like being employed full-time while also working towards a PhD. She then talks about her time walking half marathons. She explains that she first started casually walking when she turned sixty, but that it soon became an obsession. She continued walking multiple half marathons every year until the fall of 2019. Bottoms then returns to talking about her time at OSU. She discusses her move to the College of Education, where she was quickly made the department chair because she had a PhD, although people doubted her legitimacy because she was new. She then talks about the hierarchy of higher education and her transition to an assistant professor position. Finally, she discusses how she did not receive tenure at OSU.
The interview concludes with Bottoms reflecting on sexism and racism in the university’s structure. In this, she points outs that, while OSU has a female president, most of the other people in power are white men, and the structure of the university makes it difficult for women to push back against the system. Bottoms emphasizes that this makes it difficult for women to receive high-level positions.